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Cape Town - The Premier Soccer League (PSL) have rejected Mamelodi Sundowns' appeal to have their Premiership encounter against Maritzburg United moved due to their busy schedule.
Pitso Mosimane's charges face a hectic schedule for the month of September, where they are set to compete in eight matches in the space of 17 days.
The Chloorkop-based outfit penned a letter to the PSL requesting that their encounter on Wednesday, 14 September against Maritzburg be moved, as a result of their commitments in the CAF Champions League.
Three days before facing Maritzburg, Sundowns face Chippa United in the first of the two-legged MTN 8 semi-final.
Three days later, they travel to Zambia to face Zesco United in their CCL semi-final clash.
"This is not about Sundowns because the league has it’s own way of doing things and planning fixtures. If there are no days open, then there simply aren’t any," PSL chief executive Mato Madlala told IOL.co.za.
"And this is not the first time a South African club has to play back-to-back matches in the domestic league and on the continent. Sundowns can actually consider themselves lucky to be playing in Zambia.
"I remember Black Leopards (who narrowly missed out on making the group stages of the CAF Confederation Cup in 2012) returning from one of their trips elsewhere in Africa and having to quickly catch a flight to go play Golden Arrows. I have asked my (PSL) media team to pull out all the statistics to show that Sundowns are not an exception.
"You also might not be aware of this, but SuperSport United have a home game (against Free State Stars) at the same venue Sundowns are supposed to play ZESCO in the return leg on September 24 as per CAF instructions.
"How are we going to handle that now? It is up to the two teams to speak to each other before the league gets involved," Madlala concluded.
